7 Days to Die Synergy Guide (Alpha 20)

Inter-player Synergy

Because the most desirable levels of perks are unlocked by investment in their governing attribute, the cost of those perks across different attributes is extremely high. (It costs 16 points to max out one attribute alone.) The idea behind this synergy guide is that players can plan to strongly invest the majority of their skill points in select attribute(s) to increase their specialization at certain tasks, and share the results with their co-ops. Meanwhile, they rely on their teammates to do the same for other attributes and use the specialization they unlock to do the same. This guide also takes a deep dive on other ways to specialize, like allocating perk books and schematics to maximize value, as well as how play-styles can help each other support each role.

For example, one player can invest heavily in the strength attribute. They'll quickly gain access to higher levels of the miner perks, so they can mine enough resources for them and their co-ops at a fraction of the time it would take each member to fulfill their own mining needs. This frees the co-ops' time to procure other advantages that they can share with the strength player.

Players needn't invest 100% of their skill points in their chosen attribute. Not only is it arguably sub-optimal (as a single point invested in certain perks makes a great difference), but we also want to remember that games are for fun, so if certain perks outside of your attribute are catching your eye, go for it!

Intra-player Synergies

When there's fewer than 5 players, some players will have to double-up on attributes if the whole set of perks is to be used. Strategically pairing attributes within a single player can lead to extra efficiency at certain roles. Here are some of the better pairings, in my opinion, from most to least effective.

Strength & Fortitude: Tank (Heavy Armor, Sexual Tyrannosaurus, Rule 1: Cardio, Healing Factor), Pack Mule (Pack Mule, Rule 1: Cardio), food production coverage (Living Off the Land & Master Chef)

Perception & Agility: Efficient and productive looting (Lock Picking, The Infiltrator, Athletics Perks, Scavenging Perks, & Stealth Perks)

Perception & Fortitude: Hunting and harvesting efficiency (Animal Tracker & The Huntsman)

Intellect & Agility: Quick questing, Magnum Enforcer Vol. 4 overlap

Intellect & Perception: Productive looting and quest rewards (Lucky Looter, The Daring Adventurer)

Fortitude & Agility: Long-distance runner (Light Armor, Rule 1: Cardio)

Perk Book Allocation

A co-op group allocating Perk Books to certain attribute players can increase the efficiency of the team substantially. The perks associated with the Perk Books are best utilized by certain players. In addition, allocating can increase the probability that a group will be able to utilize the completion bonus of a certain series, instead of having the complete series split across multiple players, and being unable to use the completion bonus. The efficiency varies by series. Here are the book series and individual books that are most important to allocate, in my opinion, from most to least:

The Art of Mining [For the strength attribute player] – Vol. 3 is the most useful, actually increasing mining efficiency, and Vol. 6 protects this player from their role's “work hazard,” but this series goes to the top of the list because the completion perk combined with the auger increases mining efficiency with the auger by an insane amount.

Magnum Enforcer/Pistol Pete/Shotgun Messiah/Sniper/Tech Junkie – In addition to increasing the effectiveness of an attribute's main weapon class, completion bonuses for these series are bulk ammo crafting, which increase ammo crafting efficiency by 25%!

Bar Brawler/Batter Up!/Ranger's Guide to Archery/Spear Hunter – These series increase the effectiveness of certain weapon classes, but are considerably less important than gun ammo, especially by the late game when series tend to start being complete.

The Automatic Weapon Handbook [For the fortitude attribute player] – Machine guns are, in my opinion, a sub-optimal main weapon category, but for the fortitude player who invests in them and gets these books, they can approach the efficiency of other weapon classes. Note that there is no bulk ammo crafting unlocked, as 7.62 bulk crafting is the completion perk for the Sniper series.

The Night Stalker [For the agility attribute player] – These books synergize with the stealth perks.

Urban Combat [For the agility attribute player] – These books synergize with the stealth perks. The Light Armor perk will let the agility attribute player craft high-level military stealth boots.

The Hunter's Journal [For the fortitude attribute player] – The book series itself offers nominal benefits, but the completion bonus can give a boost to how much glue (from bones) the group has access too, and you can never have too much glue.

Wasteland Treasures [For the perception player] – Vol. 7 and the completion bonus deal with harvesting, and Salvage Operations will increase the amount harvested.

The other perk book series offer little or no synergy with attributes. They can still be allocated to increase access to completion bonuses as a sort of added challenge, but are not a priority.

A note about Magnum Enforcer Vol. 4:Although allocating the Magnum Enforcer series to the agility player is one of the more important allocations to make, Magnum Enforcer Vol. 4 is a notable exception. +5% better bartering in the hands of the intellect attribute player immediately pays big dividends that outweigh delaying the benefit of bulk .44 ammo crafting. The probability that a second copy of the book will be found before the series is completed is also quite high, meaning there may not even be a delay.

Schematic Allocation

Since the quality level of a crafted weapon/tool/armor is governed by certain perks, it's desirable to allocate schematics for tier 2* and tier 3 weapons/tools and Military/Steel Armor to their respective perk's attribute players. Those schematics would be:

Perception: Lever-Action Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher**, Steel Spear (Spear Hunter Vol. 3), Ratchet, Impact Driver

Strength: Pump Shotgun, Auto Shotgun, Steel Club (Batter Up! Vol. 6), Steel Sledgehammer, Steel Tools, Auger, Chainsaw

Fortitude: Steel Knuckles, Tactical Assault Rifle, M-60 (The Automatic Weapon Handbook Vol. 7)

Agility: Compound Bow/Crossbow, SMG, .44 Magnum, Desert Vulture, Machete

Intellect: Robotic Turret, Robotic Drone

*Remember that pipe weapons and primitive weapons/tools are considered tier 0 by The Fun Pimps.

**extra considerations made in the section “Technical notes about redundant schematics”

Food and seed recipes can basically be read ad lib. (Remarks in the section “Technical notes about redundant schematics”)

Mod schematics can mostly be read ad lib, but there are a few that make good sense to give to the intellect attribute player. The reason for this is these mods are cheap to craft and greatly increase the value of quality 6 gear, and are thus a great way for that player to maximize the value of loot before selling. Those mods would be:

Armor Plating mod

Armor Pocket mod

Insulated Liner mod

Cooling Mesh mod

The Hunter mod

Grave Digger/Wood Splitter mods

Structural Brace mod

Technical notes about redundant schematics:Tier 1s and resources:Certain schematics, like the Gas Can recipe or the AK-47 schematic, are actually NOT optimally allocated to the player with the governing perk. Counter-intuitively, they actually benefit the least from these. The reason for this is that, in the case of the Gas Can, the intellect player will unlock the crafting without the use of the recipe, if they haven't already. It's better to let another player read the recipe, as more players having access to it can only help. For any tier 1 weapon/tools (Hunting Rifle, Iron Spear, Lockpicks, Wrench, Double-Barrel Shotgun, Baseball Bat, Iron Sledgehammer, Iron Tools, Leather Knuckles, AK-47, Wooden Bow/Crossbow, Pistol, Hunting Knife, Stun Baton, Robotic Sledge) the governing perk will both unlock the recipe AND immediately allow higher-level crafting than the quality 1 item made by the schematic and no perk. In other words, these schematics either unlock crafting the item at only quality 1, or unlocks nothing because it is redundant. As such, these schematics have very little value, so they can be read by other players for completion's sake, or sold for a small payout.

Explosives schematics:Explosives progressively unlock with level of the Demolitions Expert perk, but since explosives do not have a quality, only the Rocket Launcher's quality is affected. Schematics for the other explosives can go towards other players to increase overall access to crafting, if that's something the party desires. Conversely, if no other players are interested in having access to explosive crafting, it could be prudent to give those schematics to the perception player anyway, as they can unlock some recipes earlier, and do more damage with them immediately.

The Rocket Launcher schematic:The Rocket Launcher can be thought of as a tier 2 or tier 3 weapon, and go to the perception player. However, note that the Rocket Launcher schematic also unlocks the Rocket Casing/Rocket Tip recipes, which are forge recipes optimized by the intellect player and their Advanced Engineering. Demolitions Expert will unlock those as well, but will never unlock the Rocket Launcher itself; it must be unlocked through the schematic.

In other words, with just one copy of the Rocket Launcher Schematic, you can either give it to the intellect player to maximize casing/tip forge crafting, or give it to the perception player to optimize Rocket Launcher quality crafting, but you can't have both without another copy of the schematic. Crating a superior Rocket Launcher is probably the priority here (or what else are the casings and tips for?), but I wanted to elaborate on that detail.

Food Recipes:The only efficiency in cooking is in the top level of Master Chef, at which point all recipes are unlocked anyway. Players may prefer to allocate recipes for the simple reason of simplifying who can make what, but this is something pretty easy to work out with simple conversation as needed. It's also good to let players have diverse access to recipes, in case they are hungry and separated from their co-ops.

Seed Recipes:As of Alpha 20, seed recipes are basically useless to players who haven't invested one point in Living Off the Land. (See any farming guide for more details.) However, once Living Off the Land 1 is obtained, half the seed recipes are unlocked anyway. Only the “berries and vegetables” seed recipes remain locked. This represents the only utility for those recipes, but as soon as Living Off the Land 2 is obtained, they are again redundant.

Attribute Role Breakdowns

Attribute

Functions:-Description. (Supporting perks.)

Also suggestions for “stacking” items when the team is away from base, to free up slots across inventories. It's inefficient for every member to use one slot of inventory to carry, for instance, mechanical parts, when the Perception role likely already harvested some, and can stack more with no penalty. Stacking this way is a creative suggestion, not a high priority.

Role Overview: How the perks of the role can influence play-style by trying to make the most of them.

Role Progression: How to efficiently allocate skill points through early, mid, and late game to keep benefits in line with objectives.

Supporting the player: What other players should know about how to best support the role. May include things like candies to keep an eye out for, equipment they can use best, and books they can make best use of.

Perception

Functions:-Loot. Having the highest loot level. Open main loot containers. Not necessarily carry their content. (Lucky Looter)

-Wield scoped rifle, eliminate distant threats. (Dead Eye)

-Carry harvesting tools, lock picks. (Lock Picking, Salvage Operations)

-Assist on buried supplies quests. (Treasure Hunter)

-Receive all treasure maps. (Treasure Hunter)

-Unlock stack of gun powder mixing (Demolitions Expert 3)

-Track animals (Animal Tracker)

-Stack lock picks, mechanical parts, electrical parts (not 7.62, load-out is already big, let Fortitude handle it. Goes through it quicker anyway.)

Role Overview: The main role of the perception player is to enter POIs, alone or with other players. Carrying lockpicks and harvesting tools at all times spares the slots for the other players, who should stack their lockpicks with this player. This is the only role that needs Lucky Looter goggles. It's prudent that co-ops let the Perception player open the main loot containers to find higher gamestage loot. The player doesn't necessarily have to be the one to extract the loot and carry it once the container has been searched and the loot has been generated.

The player can also focus on harvesting mechanical and electrical parts. Mechanical parts are especially valuable for endgame crafting.

The Combat Perks will allow the player to maximize damage from 7.62 ammo, as well as effectively yield explosives and spears.

Role Progression: Early game, the player should focus on Lucky Looter very aggressively, and Treasure Hunter moderately. This helps accelerate the loot quality, and thus the progression for everyone. Teasure Hunter's value is high in early game but decreases as players progress to midgame and take less buried supplies. At least one point should also go into Lock Picking (to immediately start saving lockpicks over time) and Animal Tracker (to help with early game food scarcity). The sooner one or more points are put into The Infiltrator, the more accidents the player can avoid. Javelin Master would also be a good skill to point points in early on, if the player is going to use melee.

Mid game, the player should have Lucky Looter maxed out. They can begin to put more points into Salvage Operations to support the increasing demand for parts. Unlocking the bulk gun powder crafting under Demolitions Expert is also an important goal.

Late game, the player should have strong Dead Eye to maximize 7.62 efficiency, and The Penetrator to help deal with increasingly common armored enemies, especially demolishers.

Supporting the player:-Refrain from opening “main” loot (Working Stiff Tools crate, car parts box, Shotgun Messiah crate, Reinforced Chest, Hardened Chest, Gun Safe, Munitions Box, Weapons Bag, etc.)

-Give preferential access to rifles, explosives, and spears

-Give preferential access to Lucky Looter goggles

-Direct them to the main loot

-Provide lockpicks

-Give treasure maps

-Give Eye Kandy, Hackers

-Give schematic: Lever-Action Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher, Steel Spear (Spear Hunter Vol. 3), Ratchet, Impact Driver

-Give Sniper books

-Give The Great Heist books

Strength

Functions:-Mine an abundance of stone and all ores for the team. (Construction Perks)

-Cook. (Master Chef)

-Carry tools, especially a shovel. (Miner 69'er)

-Unlock high level tools crafting for the team. (Miner 69'er)

-Wield shotguns. (Boomstick)

-Carry some extra items. (Pack Mule)

-Unlock high-level heavy armor crafting. (Heavy Armor)

-Stack wood, ores, cement, cobblestone, shotgun shells, and paper.

-Harvest pallets of cobblestone, cement, and paper. (Mother Lode)

Role Overview: The main role of the strength build is to support the team through mining, cooking, and being a tank.

A point in Pack Mule is never wasted. Even if a full inventory can be unlocked through pocket mods, Pack Mule frees those slots to be used for other mods, like the customized fittings this build could badly use.

Even though Sexual Tyrannosaurus is a purely selfish perk, it's still worth every point spent. It protects the player from exhausting themselves in combat, and multiplies the efficiency of mining.

Construction Perks: Crafting, ammo crafting, base building, and gasoline supply all depend on extracting huge quantities of ores on an ongoing basis, and having someone cut the time through efficiently frees up the team greatly.

Combat Perks: The shotguns are a great weapon class, and shotgun shell crafting isn't bottlenecked by brass. The player is great for questing because the shotgun can clear things out quick. The strength player also has their choice of one of two melee weapon classes.

Role Progression: Early game, Miner 69er should be a priority. Four skill points could bring the skill up twice, starting the team off with quality 3 stone tools. A point or more need to go into Master Chef soon, to unlock recipes that will help with food, especially the grilled/boiled meat recipe. The sooner and deeper the player can go into Master Chef, the more variety can be utilized early on to resolve food scarcity. The tier 4 recipes are particularly desirable earlier on, turning canned food into meals that restore the food meter greatly. Pack Mule will also help get over that early game encumbrance. It's good for the player to spend the night in a mining bunker, where they will be safe and productive.

Mid game, as demand for ores go up, Mother Lode will help keep up. Sexual Tyrannosaurus and Master Chef probably still need more points to fully unlock too, and should continue to be maxed out. Unlocking the Learnin' Elixir will help turn worthless Dog Food (You have been collecting Dog Food, right, team?) into precious skill points for the team. Even though this role is chief of mining, the other players will still benefit from having high level tools, for using on quests, reshaping the environment, or simply assisting with mining.

Late game should see Shotgun Messiah with 4 or 5 points. Craft more quality 5 shotguns for the team, as parts permit. "Preferential access to" does not mean "only one using." It would be an under-utilization of a great weapon class with cheap ammo to not equip many team members with good shotguns. When the team gets the Super Corn seed recipe and a handful of Super Corn, all of the resources for crafting shotgun shells will be renewable or mine-able, meaning very scalable crafting. Late game should see the construction perks maxed out. Quality 5 heavy armor may be of value to some co-ops, even if they just keep a set for horde night.

Supporting the player:-Give preferential access to tools, Shotguns, heavy armor, and clubs or sledgehammers

-Give Rock Busters

-Give a cigar

-Give preferential access to an ergonomic grip mod

-Give schematics: Pump Shotgun, Auto Shotgun, Steel Club (Batter Up! Vol. 6), Steel Sledgehammer, Steel Tools, Auger, h2

Fortitude

Functions:-Harvest all crops. Craft farm plots, seeds. (Living Off the Land)

-Harvest animals. (The Huntsman)

-Run quick errands in the pre-vehicle game. (Rule 1: Cardio)

-Unlock high-level machinegun crafting. (Machine Gunner)

-Stack crops & seeds and animal harvests.

-Drink Beer.

Role Overview: While The Huntsman/Living off the Land will multiply precious resources, most of the perks will directly benefit the player, especially in the way of not dying. For this reason, this is a great build for inexperienced players to adapt.

Farming optimizes food production, and once super corn is introduced, increases glue production. There's not much in the role for the Well Insulated to contribute. If there are tasks in the extreme weather biomes, and anyone can do it, it can fall on this player, but it's hard to imagine such a task. (Mining desert shale would be handled by the Strength user, Barter with snow traders would be handled by the Intellect user.)

Combat Perks: As stated elsewhere, machine gun are a sub-optimal weapon class, but this perk can make it viable. The Brawler supports a good and versatile melee class, especially with perk books and the occasional beer.

Role Progression:Early game, there's nothing urgent to pursue, but parkour grants mobility like no other, and is a good perk to focus on. Archery has its greatest utility in the early game, and even a primitive bow is a good weapon to craft and share with co-ops if it's a good level. A balance of points across the other perks will make this build more agile and stealthy. Even a point in The Infiltrator (under Perception) would not be misplaced; the last thing you want while sneaking is to fall through the floor into a trap.

Mid game, Light Armor 4 should be attained before long. Quality 5 light armor can be supplied to the rest of the team. As the stealth perks get higher, the player can take on more night activity.

Late game, gunslinger should be maxed out to maximize 9mm damage output. It's not a given that the Ghillie Suit will ever be unlocked. If it is, it's not so clear to me that it's worth it. You sacrifice your head armor and insulation, and by that point, stealth is probably excellent even without it.

Supporting the player:-Give preferential access to machine guns and knuckles. Especially Steel Knuckles, as they double as a harvesting tool.

-Give schematics: Steel Knuckles, Tactical Assault Rifle, M-60 (The Automatic Weapon Handbook Vol. 7)

-Give crops and seeds.

Agility

Functions:-Enter POIs in advanced to clear out until getting caught or finishing.

-Stack arrows/crossbolts, 9mm, military armor parts

-Craft light armor for co-ops.

Role Overview: The main role of the agility player is to lead the clearing of POIs. Depending on the number of players at a POI, the agility player focused on clearing a POI can successfully to do with or without stealth, while other players can begin thoroughly looting. Everyone follows the natural throughline of the POI. This ensures knowing where everyone has been.

The perks of the agility role are largely self-directed. Only the increased level crafting of the combat items and light armor can be materially transferred to the team. Agility is also the stealth build. Around midgame, it becomes possible for the agility role to partially or entirely clear out buildings at night or day, leaving them safe for looting by the team. This role can see nonstop action in this way, and help the team rapidly accumulate resources and EXP.

Backtrack: On quests, it doesn't make good sense for the agility player to lead. The other players would be waiting on him, wasting time. They might also accidentally wake zombies, interfering with stealth. A better strategy is to have the agility player start working from a different direction, such as the end. In fact, the agility player can get into position crouching next to the main loot before starting the quest. Once the quest starts, they can dispatch the "boss room" and start working backwards until they meet up with the team. At that point, the parkour perk will help them a make quick exit from taller POIs.

Mid game, Light Armor 4 should be attained before long. Quality 5 light armor can be supplied to the rest of the team. As the stealth perks get higher, the player can take on more night activity.

Supporting the player:-Buy Night Vision Goggles. They are rare. These will help achieve stealth kills at night without raising visibility profile.

-Give Ski Goggles. (Can be worn with the Night Vision Goggles, which count as a face accessory.)

-Give preferential access to knives, bows/crossbows and pistols

-Give schematics: Compound Bow/Crossbow, SMG, .44 Magnum, Desert Vulture, Machete

Intellect

Functions:-Manage all buying and selling with the merchants (Better Barter)

-Carry Dukes, check vending machines daily

-Do all forge output (Advanced Engineering)

-Unlock progression recipes like the cement mixer, crucible, and chemistry station (Advanced Engineering, Physician)

-Build all vehicles (Grease Monkey)

-Craft Glue (Advanced Engineering 1)

-Unlock Stack of Gas Can mixing (Grease Monkey)

Role Overview:One of the most important attributes in the game, this role optimizes money, forging output, and unlocks key crafting components. This attribute gets no guns for combat perks, but the ability to wield 2 drones at once is awesome.

Role Progression: Early game, this attribute is pulled in many directions. Early on, The Daring Adventurer is a great perk that can greatly help accelerate progression. Better Barter and Advanced Engineering are high priorities. Grease Monkey will be too, but given the ease of getting the bike in early game now, it might be worth putting off for a bit.

Advanced Engineering is an essential perk at every level, but 1 and 2 are especially important for unlocking Workbench and Cement Mixer, respectively. The Cement Mixer could wait until mining ability is increased a bit more.

Charismatic Nature and Physician can also worthy considerations, depending on how useful they may be to the team's play-style, and how leisurely the group wants to be about progression.

About Electrocutioner. Pipe and Stun Baton is a pretty mediocre melee weapon. That said, powering it up, crafting the Repulsor Mod, and using the Nerd Tatz candy are all fun things that the player could do, if progression speed is not a concern. Whatever the feelings on this are, a decision should be made fast; putting points in Electrocutioner in late game would be ineffective.

Mid game, as the player gets their hands on good robotic weapons, it can be good to start putting points in Robotics Inventor. Level 5 is the real prize there. The Daring Adventurer should be maxed out, as the quest rewards you'll start get will be great, and you'll definitely want 2.

Advanced Engineering should be eventually maxed out, so that all forge output going forward is maximally efficient. This will also unlock the crucible, if it has not yet been obtained.

Grease Monkey can start to help get the team mobile with vehicles. Even if the schematics for the vehicles can be found, Grease Monkey will allow you to only spend 2/3 of the normal cost to craft, which will really add up across the vehicles for each player. Stacks of Gas Cans can increase the fuel production by 25%, great for vehicles and motor tools you'll be getting around this stage.

Late game, Better Barter should be maxed out, maximizing cash flow for the group. Grease Monkey should be nearly maxed out, and vehicle needs for the group should be met.

Supporting the player:-Don't output from the forge. Ask this player to do it.

-Give extra loot to this player to sell.

-Give barter buffs (Pumpkin Cheesecake, Grandpa's Awesome Sauce)

-Give a cigar

-Give schematics: Robotic Turret, Robotic Drone

Final Thoughts

7 Days to Die is a survival game, encouraging players to create every advantage possible to improve their odds of survival. Inter-player synergy is just one aspect of the game that can be fun to optimize. It is not the be-all end-all priority; playing well also consists of good reflexes, decisions, planning, logistics, etc. Under a blood moon, there is no roles except survivor.

I've tried my best to be thorough here with every synergy I've thought up in my 1300+ hours of playtime. My goal was just to share some conclusions I reached. Don't worry about memorizing every detail of this guide; focus on being excellent to the people you play with, and enjoy your time surviving with others. Games are supposed to be fun!

(Please feel free to contact me with any thoughts on how this guide can be improved.)

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2904796964

Synergy Guide (Alpha 20)